Tyler Hinz - UC Santa Cruz

Tyler Hinz, a 6-2 outside hitter for UC Santa Cruz, has been selected as the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III Men's National Player of the Week. Hinz helped the Slugs to five wins at the Slug Dome Invitational last week to begin the 2007 season 5-0. With wins over Stevens Tech, NYU, D'Youville, Medaille and Carthage, Hinz has led UC Santa Cruz to No. 2 ranking in the first CSTV/AVCA Division III Men's Top 15 Coaches Poll of the season, released Tuesday. For the week, Hinz averaged 2.64 kills, 0.79 digs, 0.79 blocks and 0.5 assists per game, while hitting .421 on 57 attacks. His best match of the week came against D'Youville, where he put away 12 kills on 17 attempts, for a hitting percentage of .580. In the five-game thriller with Carthage, Hinz collected 11 kills on 20 swings, hitting .350. Tyler Hinz is the second men's player from UC Santa Cruz to win the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week honor, and the first since Mike Rubin in 2002. The Slugs' head coach is Jonah Carson.